Trees benefits

There are many great reasons and advantages for planting trees around your home:

1. Trees helps lower your electricty bill. Trees provide shade, therefore if you plant trees around your home, they will provide shade and keep the sunlight from directly hitting your house, helping lower your electricity bill, automatic heater or air conditioner will not run as much.

2. Trees give you a nice comfortable place to enjoy your yard. You can enjoy your yard more without worrying about the direct sunlight burning you easily specially during hot summer days. You can stay in your yard longer comfortably.

3. Trees in your yard allows you to plant all the beautiful shade plants. Give more color to your yard by adding shade plants around your home and at the same time enjoy the the shade the trees provide.

4. Trees around your home will help improve the visual effect of your home. With trees around, your home will not look bare and plain. Trees will give character to the overall look of your home and yard.

5. Trees will help keep the noise down specially if you are near a busy highways or roads.

6. Trees will give you lots of privacy specially if there are several houses in your area, trees will help your house from being so visible from from other properties and giving you the privacy that you want.

7. Trees attract some wild birds and squirrels. So if you want their presence in your yard, trees will help attract these lovely creatures in your yard.

8. Trees omit oxygen, and intake carbon dioxide, therefore it will help keep your air healthier, cleaner and fresher! People need to breathe healthy oxygen.

So plant trees, they are good for you, good for the environment, good for all of us.

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Finding the best kennel for your dog

For most people, dogs are important part of the family. If you cannot bring them along with you on your trips, it matters to you that your dog will be comfortable, happy and well-attended to while you are gone. These things can be achieve by having the right kennel for your dog.

Here are some tips to make sure that your dog will be in great hands while you are away:

Great kennels will not hesitate to show you around their facilities. They will show around and show you where your furry friend will be sleeping at night.

Great kennels maintain clean environment and office. Cleanliness does matters for the health and the comfort of your dog.

Great kennels always ask the pet owner the preference of the dogs eating habit because not all pets are created equal and kennel personnel should be concern about your dogs eating habit and preferences. It is important that your dog will eat properly while you are gone, and the kennel owners should be asking you this questions so that they can prepare the proper food for your dog.

Great kennels should allow you to provide your dog toys if you want to do that. And you should be allowed to provide your bed for your dog, if you want to do that.

Great kennels should be able to line up the daily activities of your dog and let you know these activities before you leave so that you will feel comfortable and relax that your pet is gonna be okey and will be in great hand while you are gone. A kennel personnel should be able to provide atleast half an hour running or walking time outside with each boarding dog daily. Better, atleast half an hour in the morning and atleast half an hour in the afternoon walking time, to maintain good health and exercise your dog.

Great kennels should have a temperature controlled room for all the dogs specially at night where they sleep. You dont want your furry friend to be sleeping in the cold cement room without heater specially during the winter or fall season where the temperature could easily drop in the night.

The more extra great service they can provide for your dogs during their stay will be great additions to make them as comfortable and at home as possibly.

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Orchids Phaleanopsis

Most of our flowers in the yard are not in bloom yet because its winter season and its been cold and snowing.

To add some colors in our kitchen island, we been buying the cheapest cut flowers available in Safeway for $3.99 to $6.99 per boquet. Other nicer flowers like tulips and roses is around $12.99 to $19.99 so we just deal with the carnation and daisies because they are cheaper and they look just as nice.During our grocery trip to Raleys this week, we saw this totally beautiful orchids displayed near the front area of the store. We tried growing orchids 2-3 years ago but it didnt survive very long. But when we saw the potted orchids, we just have to give it another try. This time we decided to put it indoor, in our kitchen area. Its only been few days since we bought the orchid plants, so we are still trying to study what works best for them. Been transfering them already in different area of the house, making sure they have enough lighting and not expose to too much heat from our wood burning stove.

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Fried fish + cooked rice

Lunch was extra special today, i had one of my favorite dish, fried fish with cooked rice.

My hubby is not the best fan of fish, so we dont have fish meal very often.

We bought the pre-packaged fishes few weeks ago during our visit at Costco. That was the first time I realized that they have some fish available, which really got me so excited.

I am always open to many fish recipes available, and willing to taste new fish recipes served at restaurants like the yummy ones at Fats.

But one of my all time easy-to-prepare recipe for fish is fried fish. Just sprinkle some salt all-over the cleaned raw fish meat, then fry it both sides.

Fried fish is best served with warm cooked rice and a simple soy sauce for a dip. As an alternative, try also a soy sauce and vinegar combo dip, or a tomato catsup.

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Meat lasagna + garlic bread

After a long and tiring day, we decided to treat ourselves with a flavorful mouth-watering meat lasagna last night.



Nope, we usually do not make the lasagna from scrath because of all the mind-boggling ingredients and all the works involve for an everyday dinner.


We usually have the party size frozen meat lasagna by Stouffer's which cost around $11 to $12 in most groceries here in CA. If you havent try the Stouffer's meat lasagna yet, its truly worth a try!

It wouldnt hurt to add few more greeted mozzarella cheese on top of the baked lasagna. We just love the additional riched cheese flavor in it.

And of course, we added enjoyment in our taste bud by having a complimentary garlic bread by Colombo which usually cost around $2.50 to $3.50 per bread pack in most groceries here in CA.

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Sierra-Nevada Snow Fall

Its snowing today (February 22, 2007) in the Sierra-Nevada mountains here in California. Its the first major snowfall we have this winter season, producing around one foot of snow today. I stayed indoor even if the fresh powder snow is very inviting to play outside. Our deck and railing shows its already a foot of snow falling since eight clock this morning, that was when it first started snowing. It look so clean and beautiful outside, so white and clean and the green pine trees with loads of snow looks really nice and picture perfect.

At around four this afternoon, I grabbed the snow shovel and cleared up our deck, spa cover and stairs all full of snow. Its already 6:30 pm, its cold outside and its still snowing.

Written and Photography by Jaze B or JAZEVOX
All Rights Reserved.

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Bearded Iris

Bearded Iris is one of the favorite collectible flowers here in the U.S. There are several people who are in the look out for all different iris colors available. There are several different color varities like purple, black, white, blue, yellow, gold, bronze, and more!


Bearded Irises can grow 24 to 36 inches tall with strong sturdy long-stemmed. One iris plant can produce two or more flowers per season. They usually bloom around spring time, or around the month of March to May. Irises is very easy to plant, just place the iris rhizomes buried one inch below the ground in a well-drained soil around fall season before the danger of frost. Water them daily to encourage germination but do not over water them because you dont want the iris rhizomes to rot.

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Strawberry Short Cake

Want to try something yummy? Dont let the strawberries in your refrigerator rot, uneaten. There are several ways to eat your strawberries the fun way. One, is by eating it on its own, its healthy, its a fruit! Two, you can blend it with a some milk and some icecream, and have an instant milk shake. Third, you can sliced the strawberries, topped them in a butter cake or chiffon cake, spread generous amount of fresh cool whip, its an instant Strawberry Short Cake :-)

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Long-Stemmed Tulips

Tulips, they speaks simplicity, beauty, crisp and fresh. Tulips are one of the most beautiful and natural beauty on earth. These long-stemmed flowers stand tall with firmness and elegance. Tulips come in different colors, blue, pink, orange, black, white, yellow, red, combination of two or three colors. Tulips usually grow around 16-24 inches tall but dwarf tulips are shorter, 10-12 inches tall.

Tulips normally blooms at spring time here in the U.S. around the month of March to May. Tulips are planted by their bulbs. The best time to plant tulip bulbs is during fall season before the frost season. Dig small holes around 3 inches in diameter, or enough to put the bulb in place. Holes should be around 6 inches deep. Yes, the deepness of the bulb matters specially when the tulips began to grow. If you dont place the bulb deep enough, the tulips could possibly not support itself, they have really long stems, they need to be well-established with the soil. If you bury the bulb too much, it could possibly not grow properly. Plant the bulbs atleast 6 inches away from each other to make room for the leaves and to promote growth and rooms for new baby bulbs that will develop from the original bulbs.

Use bulb food to enhance growth and healthy blooms. Both bulbs and bulbs food are available in most home and garden centers like Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, Kmart.

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Marigold

Marigold flowers are annual plant that will grow up to around 12 to 18 inches tall at maturity. Marigolds are best planted in a full sunny location in a well-drained soil. Marigolds are great in in both planters and beds of flowers.

The most common marigold flower colors are the dark maroon and bright orange. But marigolds are also available in other colors like yellow, white, dual-colors, and more.

Marigold flowers are very easily to plant and almost with no maintainance required. You can buy marigold seeds in most home and garden centers here in the U.S. like Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, Kmart. Just follow the planting instruction as indicated in the seed packaging. Marigold seeds are usually planted in a well cultivated soil, then plant them around 1/4 inch deep. Soil must be keep moist everyday to encourage seeds germination. As soon as seedlings reach around 2-3 inches in height, re-plant each seedling around atleast one feet away from each other to give room for each plant to grow bigger.

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Our Florida Adventure

FLORIDA reminds me of Philippines in so many ways specially their climate. They have nice tropical weather out there, lots of sunshine, then unexpected rain, lightning and thunderstorm in the afternoon that last for few hours. THe Orlando area of Florida is designed with tourists in mind. It is a very tourist-friendly city, tHey have nice side of the road walkways for on-the-foot wonderers. They have well-developed bus stops and helpful street guides properly placed in different parts of the city. Its no surprise they design Orlando this way, they have Universal Studio, Disney World, Seaworld, and a lot more! THey also have beautiful dinner shows, my favorite is Arabian Knights, its totally magical, the horses are way talented. We also got the chance to visit DAYTONA BEACH in Florida, a beautiful long miles beach stretch all the way to Miami beach! The main difference I noticed between Bohol beaches and Daytona beach is that in Bohol you can hardly sea any tall building bordering the sea sand stretch, only coconut trees and other natural plants. But in Florida, as far as your eyes can see the sand, you can also see tall hotels and condos one after the other, barely any trees, few palm trees here and there. Surprisingly they still allow people to drive their vehicles in the sand and get a nice parking in the beach and can easily get whatever you need in the car at anytime. THey also have quad/ATV 4WD rentals and have a nice ride in the beach. The best part in Florida beach is that you can walk miles and miles of beach stretch (as far as your legs can take), checking out different restaurants and snacks bars along the way, so its always good idea to have dollars in you while walking along the beach. THey also have lifeguards on duty on particular times of day so aside from helping you incase you drift too far in the ocean deep, they will also alarm you to get off the water when the sharks decide to lurk around and might decide you are dinner to them! The bad thing I experience in Florida both in Orlando and Daytona is that they have radical lightning and thunderstorms that just came out of nowhere. You stroll in the city in the sunny morning, and you find yourself get stuck in one of the shop like a salmon with all other wonderers in the afternoon waiting for the lightning to stop. They also have really really hot summer days, more than 100 degrees like CA! Few great surprises i experience in Florida are, waking up in the morning and looking down from the balcony you see big nice sand messages that some people surprise their love ones with early in the mornings. They also have planes with ads in the tail, birds hunting for fishes, and and cannot-be-missed early sunrise they have! For best sunrise viewing, wake up around 4:30 in the morning get ready and head towards the beach while waiting for the sun to come, where camera is a must, of course. On the downside, unfortunately, you can tell that some of the beach sands got damaged in different hurricane storms that hit Florida each year. But overall, Florida is a great place to unwind, have a great family vacation and have lots of things to offer. No wonder its one of the top tourists destination in the world.

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